Field Experience

The Michigan Department of Education requires a minimum of 100 clock hours of field experience prior to the student teaching placement. It is the belief of Siena’s Teacher Education Program that the more experience students have prior to student teaching, the greater their chances of a successful student teaching placement.

As a result, it is Siena’s policy that students will log 250 clock hours of field experience prior to the student teaching placement. These hours are to be logged in Appendix B of the Teacher Education student handbook and appropriate signatures are needed to verify these hours.

Prior to actually participating in the student teaching experience, students will be required to submit this documentation. Most of the needed 250 hours of field experience are built into the coursework within the Professional Education Sequence and the Elementary Planned Minor. Students will need to obtain on their own any additional hours needed to make the 250-hour requirement. Field experience done while attending other teacher education institutions may be used for these hours, provided they are documented with the appropriate signatures.